LEGEND OF THE GUARDIANS: THE OWLS OF GA'HOOLE (2010)
Updated: Dec 12, 2022
An Animated Adventure that Fails to Take Flight
Grade: D
Like most filmmakers, Zack Snyder has had a lot of ups and downs through the years. Before he began the DC Extended Universe with 2013’s Man of Steel, he got a strong start with his 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead, which he followed up with the R-rated comic book epics 300 and Watchmen, both of which were box-office successes. It might seem strange, then, that he would attempt to tackle family-friendly territory-but in 2010, he did just that when he directed his first animated feature, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’hoole.
I’ve heard some unflattering things about this movie, with critics saying it looks gorgeous but has a weak story (a common complaint toward Zack Snyder films). I started watching it a while ago, but tuned out after 20 minutes, unimpressed with what I saw. After viewing Snyder’s excellent director’s cut for Justice League, I decided to give it another shot, and…yeah, I’m still unimpressed.
The film tells the tale of Soren, a young owl who is fascinated by stories of the “Guardians,” legendary protectors who reside across the sea in a tree called “Ga’hoole,” and who fought off a race of evil owls called “The Pure Ones” long ago. One day, Soren and his brother Kludd fall from their tree and are snatched up by the Pure Ones, who have returned and are preparing to conquer the Owl Kingdoms. Soren and another owl named Gylfie make a daring escape and team up with other owls to find the Guardians and enlist their help in defeating the Pure Ones.
Legend of the Guardians had a lot of potential, but it suffers from many things: underlength, uninteresting characters, and an overall unimpressive story (that’s a lot of “uns”). The whole script feels like it’s on fast-forward; there’s so much going on, and it goes from one plot point to another so fast, that you barely have time to know or care who’s who (hehe) or what’s what. Case in point: At one moment, an owl abruptly shows up, whisks two of our heroes into the tree and starts telling them some important stuff; one of the heroes says, “Wait, who are you?”
In the first twenty minutes, we are introduced to our protagonists, see them get kidnapped, meet the Pure Ones, see the two brothers get separated, meet a new protagonist, and meet a new character who is in the employ of the Pure Ones but wants to betray them. Twenty minutes is hardly a sufficient amount of time to fit all of these story elements in a satisfying manner. For the life of me, I could not remember most of the characters’ names; I had to look them up later.
One story element I found especially lacking was the character of Kludd, who turns traitor early on and willingly joins the Pure Ones. When Soren is forced to fight him near the end, Kludd claims that the Pure Ones believe in him like no one else did. How does no one else believe in him? We see him struggling to catch up with Soren early on, sure, but there’s little evidence that no one believes in him. More time should’ve been devoted to their relationship early on, at least showing them getting along so that we feel bad when Kludd turns.
The film spends a lot of its time showing off how gorgeous it is, with its beautiful sunsets, menacing shadows, and an impressive bit where Soren flies through a storm. Had I seen this movie in theaters and its intended 3-D, I might’ve been so caught up in these visuals that I would’ve been more forgiving of the movie’s lack of interest in its characters; as it was, I was sitting in my living room, wishing I was watching a movie that actually cared.
The one saving grace that keeps this movie from being a solid D- is the climax. It is truly spectacular, with the good and bad owls battling it out in Zack Snyder’s signature slow-motion-to-fast-motion editing. Even with all the underwhelming characters, I still found myself entertained by this.
Zack Snyder is a talented filmmaker, but he doesn’t always know the right balance between story, visuals and character. Sometimes this could be forgiven, as with 300 or even Man of Steel. But in a subgenre like animation, which as provided the world with countless entertaining features populated with great characters, it’s hard to give this mistake a pass.
Director: Zack Snyder
Producer: Zareh Nalbandian
Screenplay: John Orloff, Emil Stern (Based on the books "Guardians of Ga'hoole by Kathryn Lasky)
Cast: Jim Sturgess (Soren), Emily Barclay (Gylfie), Ryan Kwanten (Kludd), David Wenham (Digger), Anthony LaPaglia (Twilight), Helen Mirren (Nyra), Geoffrey Rush (Ezylryb), Joel Edgerton (Metal Beak)
Rated: PG (for some sequences of scary action)
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